By FLAVIOR CHISHALA –
THE Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) has appealed to trainee lawyers to pay strict attention to clients’ instructions if they have to reduce on disputes.
LAZ president George Chisanga said many times lawyers face difficulties in understanding their clients’ instructions, a situation which lead to disputes.
Mr Chisanga said this in Lusaka yesterday when he officiated at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) five-day course of legal practitioners qualifying examinations students in legal drafting.
ZIALE entered into an agreement with New Perimeter Inc, a law firm owned by DLA Piper in the United Kingdom, which offered pro-bono legal assistance around the world to run the course.
Their objective was to support access to justice, social and economic development of legal institutions to equip lawyers with principles of effective writing and drafting.
Mr Chisanga said the training would not only help lawyers improve their performance, but also enhance their understanding of clients’ instructions and satisfy them.
“Being a lawyer is not about making money, but ensuring that you do the correct thing such as paying attention to detail and following your client’s instructions in your drafts, which is very important,” he said.
He said the training would also assist local lawyers to capture clients’ information in a clearer way so that, even when the lawyer who drafted the notes was absent, any other person would be able to read.
Team leader of the New Perimeter Inc Simon Boon urged the students to take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about how to draft cases involving agreements, property and borrowing from banks.
Mr Boon said every document a lawyer prepared should be complete, accurate, precise and unambiguous.
He said the professional duty of lawyers was to have a document that was legally enforceable and a record of the transaction.
“The ability to write clearly and concisely is thus one of your most important professional skills, as well as clarity in doing all that allows the reader to follow and understand what is written,” Mr Boon said.
